this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2025
580 points (98.2% liked)
Technology
73232 readers
4250 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
How is something "vetted properly" and how do I find out about that?
This is something I worry about all the time as well, especially since I've started to learn how to code and experienced how easy it is to mess up and send a list with all registered users to everyone opening a page. (This was in a test environment.)
As a user, there is no proper way I know of to verify an app's security. Most apps are closed source, but even if you could view the code, what would you look for?
Both Apple and Google have a verification process for apps that are published in their app stores, but if these worked, we wouldn't see this happening.
There are academic researchers working on apps and privacy as well, but it's not like you can ask them for a report on an app you're thinking of installing.
I think it basically comes down to trust. Check if a developer has messed up in the past and how they dealt with that, that sort of stuff. And for dating apps there is this interesting article: https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2025/06/24/queer-dating-apps-beware-who-you-trust/#reducing-the-risks-when-using-dating-apps
It's a long read (haven't fully read it myself yet) and it paints a bleak picture, but that's the world we live in today.
You wait a while until something like this happens.
I honestly don't understand what op is talking about.
Leaks happen all the time, even in billion dollar companies.
Their comment is the equivalent like, "This is why you should lock your doors!" Like uh okay.
This was more like leaving all your valuables in a cardboard box on your front lawn. Anyone can just take it, if they care to look inside the complete unsecured box.
Someone just drove up and tossed the box in their truck. No lock involved.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datenvermeidung_und_Datensparsamkeit
This situation would have been easily preventable with basic understanding of what they're doing is what OP is saying. This leak is not something highly complex, it is painfully stupid on the side of the developers.
There's a difference between a hack, where data is exposed, compared to data exposure due to negligence or ignorance on the development side.
Again, how should the end use know anything about what is going on at their end? How does anyone "vett" that? It is a nonsense "argument" to put blame on the users.
Where I'm from there's certificates a company can get, that confirm a certain level of process and IT security. Also a company existing for at least 5-10 years without incidents is a "vetted" company in my books. At least anything that managed to produce a working IT system before 2021 when AI came around.
I also believe there's a bit of bad wording going on with the original comment. Take it up with that guy, lol.
I love how people just jump on whatever they like, instead of actually thinking about the stuff they read/comment on/upvote. Exactly like on Reddit, no difference.
How strange that a site designed exactly like reddit behaves like reddit.
The thing is that many here think they are better, they look down on Reddit. There is a certain shift in what demographic switched over but generally it is the same.